Defiance council adopts personnel manual update, easements; tables Broadway Street vacation; schedules executive session

The Defiance City Council on Oct. 7 approved several ordinances and took procedural actions on multiple property and personnel items.

Key outcomes: the council adopted an updated personnel policy manual, approved a perpetual stormwater easement at 1000 North Clinton Street related to a private automotive service development, authorized temporary construction easements for the Ralston Avenue right-of-way project, and voted to enter an executive session to discuss the compensation of a public employee or official. The council voted to “let lie” (defer) consideration of a petition to vacate a portion of Broadway Street until a future meeting; the vacation requires three readings of the ordinance.

Personnel manual: Council heard that the city’s personnel policy manual had not undergone a full rewrite in more than 10 years. Mister Mack introduced the ordinance and credited Lainie Lambert, the city’s HR director, with a year-long update to align policies with current HR best practices and legal updates. The council moved to suspend the rules and adopt the ordinance; roll-call approval was recorded with all councilmembers present voting yes (7–0).

Easements and right-of-way items: Council approved an ordinance accepting a perpetual stormwater easement at 1000 North Clinton Street to provide drainage for a private automotive service tenant identified in discussion as Take 5. The council also authorized acquisition of two temporary construction easements for the Ralston Avenue run-of-bounds project, with the transcript noting negotiated payments of $1,000 for a 0.01-acre easement and $1,530 for a 0.032-acre easement; both were described as 12-month easements for contractor access during next year’s construction. Both easement ordinances were adopted after suspension of the rules; votes were unanimous among members present (7–0).

Broadway Street vacation: Staff said adjacent property owners petitioned to vacate the unimproved west portion of Broadway Street in the original plat of North Defiance (described as approximately 115.5 by 66 feet over Lots 34–35). Planning commission had recommended the vacation at its September hearing. Because state/local procedure requires three readings for a vacation, the council voted to “let lie” the item until a future meeting rather than suspend rules for immediate adoption.

Executive session: Councilmember Frank requested an executive session “G-1 compensation of a public employee or official.” Council approved the executive session motion and planned to adjourn into executive session at the end of the business portion of the meeting.

All legislative votes taken at the meeting were recorded by roll call and carried with the full council present voting in favor (7–0) where adoption occurred; one member (Uresti) was absent for the meeting.